| Bank Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins |
| Client La Siembra |
| Location Canada |
La Siembra sells fair trade organic Camino products including coffee, cocoa and sugar and received funding from the Caisse d’économie solidaire.
The co-op wished to improve their financial structure in order to face recent exchange rate disparities and meet the particularities common to its market, including seasonality issues, distribution and purchasing logistics.
Kelly Storie, Director General, explains that “the Caisse understands the importance of investing in fair trade cooperatives and has been a key player in developing our co-op.”
By forming a partnership with the Caisse solidaire, operating costs were greatly reduced. La Siembra previously dealt with three foreign partners: Pronatec AG (their main chocolate supplier), Equal Exchange (an American fair trade and organic food cooperative) and Shared Interest (their main financial partner). Financial transactions had been negotiated using British pounds and American dollars.